Rockets’ postseason bid depends on defense

The Rockets did not forget that for a while they were playing pretty good defense.

There wasn’t a lot of evidence of their improvement when they came home to play the Jazz, but the turnaround lasted longer than Wednesday’s one-game collapse. Besides, the Rockets not only will get many chances to prove the signs of progress were real, beginning Friday night against the Phoenix Suns, but in order to lock up a playoff spot, they’ll have to defend the way they had been before getting out of Utah’s way.

“We’ve been getting better in pick-and-roll defense, and we have gotten better at guards breaking to the basket, so we have a solid base,” Rockets forward Luis Scola said. “I think we’re still good. It just wasn’t a good game (Wednesday) night.”

Just as shooting touch can come and go – and it went badly against the Jazz – defense can break down with just a small dip in intensity and focus. And the Jazz shot so well that they needed only a small opening.

Since moving Marcus Camby in as the starting center, the Rockets had won five of six games, including road wins against the Lakers and Bulls, with the only loss coming in overtime.

In the first six games with Camby starting, Rockets opponents made 42.5 percent of their shots and 30.1 percent of their 3s and averaged 94.8 points.

Before the switch, opponents made 45.6 percent of their shots and 32.1 percent of their 3s and averaged 99.5 points.

“Guys have been in good position,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We worked on it. You get better at what you work at. Everything we did, we didn’t do as well (Wednesday) night.”

The Rockets went into the game with a plan to double-team Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap in the low blocks, especially when Millsap played as a small forward. When they were unable to rotate quickly, they could not contest shots on the perimeter or interfere with Jefferson or Millsap inside.

“We weren’t really on top of any part of our game,” McHale said. “Our double was a little bit shaky. We went at times we shouldn’t. It was one of those nights when they zigged, we zagged.

“We were two feet out of position. They made the pass. They made the shot. (Gordon) Hayward got free. When we made mistakes, they made us pay. We made more mistakes than we normally do.”

The struggles could become an issue if the Rockets reach the playoffs and face teams that command double-teams inside, as opposed to Friday night’s game against the Suns and their Steve Nash-led mastery of the pick-and-roll. But the Rockets said the issue was with the quality of their defense, not the style of team they defended.

They had mixed results against the Lakers before Andrew Bynum helped by getting ejected for the second time against them. The Rockets’ double-teams and quick rotations helped force five Bynum turnovers in his 31 minutes.

After giving up 38 points to DeMarcus Cousins in the previous meeting against the Kings, the Rockets kept him in check to the point he was benched.

Still, any team would be better off not having to double-team. The Rockets expect to have to use that defensive scheme again – and hope to need it if that means they have reached the postseason.

They believe they can do it – and have done it – better.

“We did some of that (double-teaming and rotation) against Chicago,” forward Chase Budinger said. “We doubled Cousins in Sacramento, and I thought we did a great job. (Wednesday) night was just a bad game for us.

“There’s always going to be matchups and teams you play better against and teams you play worse against. I think we play great team defense. That’s one of our strengths. We’re great at helping each other out.”

If not great on defense, they had been much better for two weeks than they were most of the season or Wednesday against the Jazz. With eight regular-season games remaining, the key will be returning to the successes.